


we can keep it undercover

by anserpina



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Background Veronica/Acxa mention, English major Keith, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Friends to Lovers, Kinkade and Lance are exes, M/M, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-10-01 15:23:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17246630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anserpina/pseuds/anserpina
Summary: Lance has good ideas. Most of the time.“My parents are having a New Years Eve party to get to know some of the locals. You come as my boyfriend, get out of the house, have some fun with people that know how to have fun, and I can avoid being mocked by my older siblings for the rest of eternity.” He takes a sip of his hot chocolate and then says, “Everybody wins.”This is not one of those times.





	we can keep it undercover

**Author's Note:**

> just some new years eve fake dating friends to lovers written for my friend mal for a secret santa gift exchange. i hope you like it, mal (and i hope the rest of y’all do too!!)

It’s some kind of cruel irony that he’s waited all semester for Winter Break and suddenly cannot wait to be back at school.

 

Christmas was fine-- his brother’s boyfriend, Adam, doesn’t celebrate Christmas, and the Shirogane/Kogane household has a long and well worn tradition of ordering chinese take-out and watching superhero movies. They eat, break open their fortune cookies and then go see the new Spiderman movie that’s out. Adam buys the family sized popcorn and still, somehow, needs to get a refill before the movie actually starts. Keith gets a blue raspberry slushie, Shiro gets a cherry slushie, and they steal sips from each other just like they normally do.

 

Shiro gets Keith a present, every year, even after they agree not to exchange gifts. Usually, it’s a paperback book; something old and wrinkled that he saw in the bookstore that’s next to the cafe he owns. The shopkeeper knows Keith well and most likely suggested the book for him, claiming that he would love it.

 

He always does.

 

Keith learned after their fourth Christmas together that Shiro would always pick up something for him, and he was actually prepared for it this year. He held back a laugh at the dumbstruck look on his brother’s face when he handed over the poorly wrapped box, a crushed bow stuck to the top of it. Shiro unwrapped it carefully and gave him a confused but fond smile as he tears small chunks of paper off the box. When he finally pulls the present out-- a clock, something Keith had learned to make on the internet and had used the woodshop on campus to build-- he nearly drops it in surprise. The clock sits on the windowsill in their kitchen for now, but Shiro insists he’s going to bring it to the cafe so everyone can “appreciate it.” Keith says that he’s turning into a dad and Shiro says that he doesn’t really mind it all that much.

 

By December 26th, he’s read through every book that was left of his reading list, including the new book from Shiro. He likes the new book the most; it’s a fantasy, period piece in which all the nobles are secretly vampires. It’s cheesy but fun, and he packs it into his stuff to take back to campus with him. 

 

He lies around the house for most of the next day, and gets bored enough that he eventually walks down to the cafe to help out. It’s usually busy around midday, but Shiro and Adam are just talking when he saunters in. The holiday means that the regular customers won’t be in for their usual cup of coffee until the work week starts again and there isn’t much to  _ do. _ He fills the straw container and wipes clean two tables before he sneaks over to the bookstore. He ends up poking around the shelves for a couple of hours and finds a few books that spark his interest.

 

He’s staring at the faded glow in the dark stars still stuck to his bedroom ceiling later that night when his phone starts to ring. It isn’t the normal chime he’s used to, though-- instead, it’s a familiar, customized ringtone. He answers without even looking at the screen, cutting off the jazzy tune mid-song.

 

“In a weird turn of events, I’m actually really happy to hear your voice,” he says.

 

“Aw Keith,” Lance croons. “You always say the sweetest things.”

 

He rolls his eyes and smiles even though he knows the other boy can’t see it. Some of the fondness he feels slips into his voice, even as he tries to hide it. “No, really. You’ve ruined me, McClain. Four months of you and your late night pizza runs and spontaneous glow in the dark paint parties and now I’m bored all the time.”

 

Lance laughs, a light and cheerful sound. Keith smiles a little more despite himself. “You’re seriously mad that I taught you how to have fun? You are something else, Kogane.”

 

“I know how to have fun,” he insists. He glances around the empty room and sighs. “Maybe I’m just getting sick of being stuck at home. I’m used to being woken up at two in the morning because you got the crazy idea to steal a gallon of ice cream from the kitchens in the rec center.” He laughs and hears a different, softer laugh echo through the phone. “That was actually kind of fun.”

 

“I told you it would be! And we even stole a quart of strawberry ice cream, just for you.” There’s a beat of silence and then Lance speaks again, his voice thoughtful. “Actually, if you’re dying for a bit of fun… I might have an idea.”

 

Keith sits up in bed and squints. He’s learned from the many times that they’ve been inside the Dean of Student Affairs office to be cautious of Lance’s plans. “What kind of idea?” he asks curiously. 

 

There’s another pause and for a few seconds, Keith thinks that they got disconnected. “Uh… Too many prying ears on this end. Wanna meet up tomorrow and hang out? I’ll give you the details in person.”

 

“Sure,” Keith says with a shrug. It’s a weird request, but it’s also not the weirdest thing Lance has ever done, so he ignores it. “I think I told you about the coffee shop my brother owns. On Westpoint? We can meet there.”

 

“Sounds good. Send me the address and I’ll see you there.” Lance groans and then yells something in Spanish that’s too long and too fast for Keith to even try to understand. “I have to go. Text me the address!”

 

He hangs up without waiting for Keith to respond. He pulls up his texts and sends the address of the coffee shop, followed by a time and a question mark.

 

He gets a smiling emoji back less than a second later and feels happier than he has in days.

 

* * *

 

Keith is already sitting at the long marble counter in the coffee shop, a macchiato warming the mug in his hands, when Lance walks in. He lets in a gust of winter wind along with him-- typical for upstate New York winters-- and pulls his scarf so it covers half of his face.

 

“I don’t know why you like winter so much,” he whines. His family had just moved from Florida to their small town less than a year prior and he didn’t seem to adjust well to anything colder than fifty degrees. Keith found him buried under three or four blankets during finals and could only sympathize with him as the winter chill grew. “Seriously, Keith. I feel like there’s icicles on my nose.”

 

Keith laughs and grabs one of the part time workers as she passes. “Can we get a hot chocolate over here when you get a chance? My friend is kind of frozen.”

 

“Extra marshmallows, please,” Lance adds with a smile. “They help melt some of the ice away.”

 

She smiles at them both and nods before walking back towards the kitchen. When she disappears, Keith turns to Lance. “So,” he starts. “What’s this big idea you were telling me about?”

 

“Oh, yeah, that,” he stammers. He looks at his gloves-- decorated with little penguins sliding down a snowcap-- and grins sheepishly. “Are you sure you don’t want to wait for the waitress to come back first? I mean, it would be awkward for me to be in the middle of an elaborate plan and for her to interrupt my train of thought--” 

 

Keith frowns. “I think it will be fine,” he says reassuringly, one eyebrow lifted in confusion as his friend stalls. It’s weird to see Lance act so…  _ different _ from his usual confident self. “Just tell me what you’re thinking.”

 

Lance’s shoulders drop a bit and he rubs the back of his neck nervously. “Okay, okay,” he says. “You gotta promise to hear me out though, alright?” The waitress comes backs and places the hot chocolate down in front of him, and he thanks her with a grateful smile.

 

“I promise to hear you out,” Keith replies as the waitress walks away. “Go on.”

 

Lance huffs and sips his drink before he speaks. “Alright, so… do you remember Ryan?”

 

Keith blinks at the name. Remember? As if he could forget. 

 

Keith and Lance’s first time meeting, at Student Orientation, had gone okay; Lance had held his hand out, a friendly smile spread across his face and Keith had shaken it lightly, still uneasy about the idea of having a roommate. Their college was small and only twenty miles from campus, and he was more than willing to commute; Shiro and Adam had insisted that it would be good for him, though, so he decided to give a try. He was hopeful that Lance would be an okay roommate. But after that first meeting, the pair fought like cats and dogs: Lance liked to leave his shower towel wherever he pleased and Keith constantly forgot his room key. Lance played loud music while he studied and Keith had a habit of taking the last blueberry muffin from their fridge. Lance needed to set six alarms to wake up, most of which went off at five in the morning so he could have the shower room to himself; Keith was a night owl due to insomnia and fell asleep, usually, right before Lance’s first alarm went off. 

 

It only took a few weeks for the two of them to work it out— Lance kept his towel in the bathroom, Keith snagged a duplicate room key from Student Services, Lance got headphones, Keith got earplugs, and they did their shopping together (resulting in way too many granola bars and still, somehow, not enough blueberry muffins). They had been good friends ever since and spent most of their day with each other, except for their classes.

 

Which was where Lance had met Ryan.

 

He was nice. Keith knew there was nothing wrong with Ryan; he was a theater student, fluent in three different languages, one of which was Spanish, which was how he and Lance had bonded. He liked making films, was involved in a few different clubs and played soccer, which probably helped him keep his strong…  _ physique. _ The problem with Ryan was that he was too perfect, too well matched with Lance, and wasn’t--

 

Well. He wasn’t  _ Keith _ . His main problem with Ryan was less about him and more about the fact that Keith had a tiny, miniscule-- maybe a little bit bigger than he wanted to admit-- crush on Lance. 

 

He had to hide his relief when Lance told him, casually over dinner, that they had ended things. His friend had seemed pretty okay with it, so he didn’t push, and Ryan’s name never came up again. 

 

Until now.

 

Keith sips his coffee calmly and pretends like he has to think about the question. “Ryan, Ryan… hmm… oh yeah, that guy you were dating for a bit? I think I remember him, a little.”

 

Lance gives him a questioning look but doesn’t say anything about his own weird behavior, which he’s grateful for. “Yeah. Well, when we were dating, hooking up, whatever. I told Vee about it. And I guess Vee told Marco, who told Rachel, who told Mama, and now the whole family wants to meet my boyfriend.”

 

“Did you mention,” Keith says as he sips his coffee again, “that you don’t have a boyfriend anymore?”

“Here’s the thing,” he replies, and Keith has to stop himself from laughing.

 

“No.” He lets out a surprised breath and chuckles, just a little bit, as Lance glares from his seat. “You told them that you were still together?” he asks incredulously.

 

“I panicked!”

 

Keith laughs harder. “All you had to say was no!”

 

Lance looks at him, aghast. “You try saying no to my family and let me know how it goes.”

 

He sets his coffee down on the counter and holds out his hands in a ‘stop’ motion. “Can we rewind, please? What does this have to do with getting me out of the… oh my god.”

 

Lance leans back in his seat and simply raises an eyebrow. “They’ve never met you, Keith.”

 

“You’re joking.”

 

“You did say that you wanted to get out of the house,” Lance points out. “My parents are having a New Years Eve party to get to know some of the locals. You come as my boyfriend, get out of the house, have some fun with people that know how to have fun, and I can avoid being mocked by my older siblings for the rest of eternity.” He takes a sip of his hot chocolate and then says, “Everybody wins.”

 

Keith doesn’t really want to suggest it, but he has to ask. “This might sound crazy but why don’t you ask Ryan?” As soon as it’s out of his mouth, he regrets it. That doesn’t stop him from talking, though. “I mean, he only lives like twenty minutes from here and he was your  _ actual _ boyfriend.”

 

Lance leans forward, his arms crossed on the table and a smirk dancing across his lips. “Wow, Keith. It’s like you don’t want to be my fake boyfriend. I’m almost a little hurt.”

 

And that-- that’s not it, not at  _ all _ . The idea of getting to be with the guy he’s had a crush on for the better part of three months is so appealing; holding Lance’s hand as they walk through the crowd, dancing closer than friends would, leaning against him as they stand and talk to his friends and family, skipping all the hard to talk about feelings stuff? It sounds amazing. 

 

But on the other hand… he wasn’t sure if his heart could survive having to give that up once he’s had it, even if it’s only for one night. He’d made peace with only being friends when Ryan showed up. He felt the twinge of hope, of possibility, of  _ something _ , maybe, after Ryan had disappeared-- and had shut it down faster than it could form. Keith really wasn’t sure if he could force his heart back into whatever box he’d shoved it into in order for their friendship to survive.

 

His mouth moves faster than his brain does. “It’s not that. But your family is going to think I’m your boyfriend. What if they see me around town, or on campus, or  _ lounging in our dorm room? _ ”

 

“First of all, if you’re my boyfriend, lounging in my dorm room wouldn’t be weird,” he responds easily. It makes Keith’s heart drop into his stomach. “And I can always say that we broke up and just stayed friends.” His heart sinks further into his stomach, this time for a totally different reason. “Besides,” Lance huffs, “Ryan and I aren’t on speaking terms.”

 

Curiosity gets the better of him. “Why is that?” Keith asks.

 

Lance stirs his hot chocolate with one of the wooden stirrers next to Keith’s coffee mug. “We had a big fight when we broke up. He got jealous of… You know what? It doesn’t matter. I’m not speaking to him, that’s all.”

 

He lean closer to Keith, his eyes dancing excitedly at his plan. “Come on, Keith. It’ll be fun! Stop worrying about the what-ifs and just relax.”

 

It may not be the best for his heart in the long run, but Lance is right-- he needs to stop worrying about the what-ifs. “Okay,” he says decisively. “I’ll do it. I’ll be your fake boyfriend for one night.”

 

* * *

 

Keith doesn’t realize the full extent of what he’s gotten himself into until he’s standing in the McClain’s kitchen, something fruity and definitely alcoholic in his hand. 

 

“I won’t tell if you don’t,” Lance’s sister, Veronica, says with a wink. He shrugs and tastes the drink. When the sugary sweetness hits his tongue, he nearly gulps the rest of it down. Veronica laughs, pats his back lightly, and says, “Oh yeah, you’ll fit right in with us,” before she disappears from his line of sight.

 

Lance manages to escape the vice like grip of his nieces and nephews-- who clung to Keith the minute he walked through the door and had to be forcefully removed from his leg-- and slides next to him. He wraps an arm around Keith’s waist a few seconds later and he melts into the other boy’s side, leaning closer into his grip.

 

It had been a little uncomfortable at first. Everytime Lance would touch his arm, or whisper something into his ear, warm breath tickling the back of his neck, Keith would turn red or freeze up. Lance explained that it was hard for him to feel comfortable because he wasn’t used to such a big family and the insane amount of people that were milling around their home. It was true, so Keith was fine with using that as an excuse; the McClains must have invited half of the town to their home for New Years Eve. There were people in every corner of the house. Adults gathered around the television to watch the countdown and to dance to the musical acts that would appear. The kids snuck from room to room but were building some kind of creation out of legos in the family room. Lance’s siblings had turned the kitchen into a makeshift bar and were concocting crazy beverages with the alcohol littering the counter; Keith was ninety percent sure that the drink Veronica had handed him was a mix of Kool-Aid powder, orange slices and vodka.  Eventually, the feeling of someone else sitting next to him stopped feeling so foreign-- Lance came from a touchy kind of family, and while he couldn’t relate to it, he could learn to love it. His mom had given Keith a spine crushing hug the minute he walked through the door, before Lance had a chance to warn everyone that Keith wasn’t the most touchy-feely kind of person. Despite that, he found himself craving the warmth of Lance’s body next to his own, and ended up gravitating towards his (fake) boyfriend unknowingly.

 

“Easy there, love birds,” Veronica teased from behind them. Her eyes drift towards Lance’s arm wrapped around Keith’s waist, takes in the obvious lack of space between them and she raises an eyebrow. “Don’t get too cozy. None of us want to see any of your pda, thank you very much.”

 

“We don’t want you to see it either, don’t worry Vee,” Lance throws back. She sticks her tongue out at him and he reciprocates the gesture. Keith buries his face in the soft plush of Lance’s sweater and laughs as the two siblings taunt each other.

 

“What’s so funny?” Lance prods. His hand starts to comb through Keith’s hair, lightly tugging on the strands that had escaped from the messy bun he had quickly tied up during a heated game of Uno. “Are you laughing at me?”

 

He stifled another chuckle and shook his head. “No, no. Not  _ at _ you.” Keith nods towards Veronica where she stood at the kitchen counter, cracking jokes with her older brothers. “The way you and your sister act reminds me of the way I am with my brother.”

 

Lance hums thoughtfully. “Shiro, right?” He stops playing with Keith’s hair and gently rests his hand on the top of his head instead. “I’d like to meet him. He sounds like a cool guy.”

 

“He is,” Keith replies with a yawn. “He’d like you a lot, I think. Adam would like you, too.” He laughs at the confused expression on the other boy’s face. “My brother’s boyfriend. He reminds me of you a little bit.” He grinned at Lance teasingly. “He thinks that his jokes are funny, too.” 

 

“Hey!” He nudged Keith’s shoulder with his own gently. “Are you saying I’m not funny?”

 

Keith replies in between yawns. “I didn’t say that,” he says. “I said that  _ you _ think that you’re funny. There’s a difference.” He looks up at Lance and grins a little wider. “But you jokes are pretty bad, honestly.”

 

“Yours aren’t much better,” he retorts, but he’s smiling, too. He starts to close his eyes and Lance nudges him awake. “Hey, are you still with us? It’s almost a new year. You have to keep those eyes open for one more hour,” he says. 

 

“Can do,” Keith mutters. His eyes widen suddenly and turns his head back towards the other boy. “Hang on… Lance? What do we do at midnight?” He looked around the living room at the partygoers, whose numbers seem to have to doubled in size as midnight creeps closer. “Aren’t we supposed to kiss at midnight?” He bites his lip nervously. “Isn’t it going to look weird if we don’t?”

 

Lance is quiet for a minute. The hand that was resting on Keith’s head slips down to his arm, pulling him closer, and he’s suddenly aware of how they must look; they’re both nestled into an armchair big enough for just one person, their legs wrapped together as they talk. He realizes that the reason he hadn’t noticed their position was because it had been so  _ easy _ just to sit like this— it was comfortable to be this close to Lance, and that easiness made his heart pound in his chest. 

 

He’s still considering this when Lance shifts in his seat, moving closer to Keith. “I mean,” he says, slowly. “Would that be so bad?”

 

Keith blinks and turns his head so that he’s facing Lance. They’re closer than he originally thought, and when he turns, their faces are barely an inch away from each other. “What?” There’s a soothing, almost sleep-like quality to the way they’re whispering as they talk. The rowdy yelling and loud music has faded into a muted backdrop, almost like they’re in their own small bubble.

 

“If we kiss,” Lance whispers back. Apprehension is written all over his face, like he’s scared that he’s crossed some invisible line drawn in the sand. “I’m…” he looks nervous, and it’s daunting because Keith has never really seen him look like this before. The overarching confidence that he usually wears like a coat is gone, at least for the moment. “I’m okay with it as long as you are,” he says. He sounds more sure of it than he looks.

 

He isn’t sure why— maybe it’s the atmosphere of the party, or the warmth he’s feeling from being so close to Lance— but Keith isn’t nervous at all. He slips his hand into Lance’s own that was resting easily in between them and twines their fingers together. “That’s fine with me,” he replies, because it is. He’s wanted to kiss Lance for almost as long as he’s known him, and he isn’t about to back out now. He feels a small twinge of worry for himself after midnight, when the party clears out and the magic of the holiday fades and real life, the one where he  _ isn’t _ dating Lance, sets back in. 

 

He looks at Lance, his soft smile and kind eyes, feels the hand intertwined with his own, and decides that he’ll worry about that when it comes.

 

They stay like that, wrapped up in each other’s arms, for most of the next hour. It’s strange how normal it feels to be leaning against each other, in Lance’s home, watching funny videos on Keith’s phone and laughing until they can’t breathe properly. More than once, Keith hides his face into Lance’s chest and laughs, muffled by his warm winter sweater. He can feel Lance’s body shake when he laughs too, can hear the hum in his chest, and it’s the most comforting feeling in the world. The hour passes by quickly, and they spend most of it lying together, Keith’s face turned towards Lance’s neck and Lance’s head resting easily on Keith’s own. They nearly fall asleep like that, both of them warm and soft and not in any mood to move— until there’s a giggle, followed by a shushing sound and another, tinier giggle. 

 

Lance opens his eyes at the same time that Keith does and Veronica snaps another picture on her phone.The smallest McClain children, Luis’s kids, laugh and dive behind the couch to avoid being seen. “I’m going to kill you in your sleep,” he mutters to her, no real malice behind his words. 

 

“This,” she says, holding up her phone, “is payback for that time that you and Rachel did those dumb poses with me and Acxa while we were sleeping.” She laughs and pats Lance on the head gently. “Don’t dish out what you can’t take,  _ hermano _ .” She grins apologetically at Keith. “Sorry, Keith— this is how our family is and in my mind, you’re already family.” 

 

_ You’re already family. _ Her words make his face heat up even more than it already has. He pulls a blanket from the back of the armchair and covers himself with it, hiding from all the McClains and their embarrassing family traditions. “I’m taking that as a compliment,” he says to Veronica, muffled from beneath the blanket. 

 

Lance laughs loudly from his side. “Think of it more as threat,” he says. “As long as you’re with me, you’ll be on Vee’s hit list.”

 

Keith pulls the blanket off his head and looks at Lance, a small smirk on his face. “As long as I’m with you, huh?” He grins wider and edges closer. “Thought tonight was supposed to be a one-off, Lance. Aren’t we supposed to break up after midnight?”

 

Lance’s eyes widen at his slip. “I meant, like, as long as you’re here, with me.” He tries to explain but the words don’t seem to come. He looks at Keith, who blinks back at him curiously, and he smiles. “You know, we don’t have to break up.”

 

Keith’s curiosity quickly turns into surprise. “What?”

 

“I know that I shouldn’t say this, because the last thing I want is to ruin our friendship,” he says. “But I’m tired of pretending like I don’t feel something for you when I do— It’s the reason that Ryan and I broke up, because he could see that I had feelings for you and I couldn’t. I asked you to be here with me tonight because I wanted  _ you, _ not just anybody that was available.” He sighs and runs his hand through his hair before reaching out for Keith’s hand again. “I don’t want to ruin our friendship, and if you don’t want anything then that’s fine,  we can just… just forget I said anything.” His hand tightens around Keith’s firmly, decisively. “But if you do want us to be more than friends— then so do I.”

 

Keith hears the countdown starting from the next room. The timer ticks down— ten, nine, eight— and it feels like it’s ticking for them as well. He knows that he has all the time in the world to think about it, to weigh the pros and cons of going down this path. But it’s what they  _ both _ want, it’s what Keith has wanted for the past three months. 

 

The timer reaches four. Keith pulls Lance closer.  _ Three _ . His other hand sneaks up Lance’s arm and rests on the back of his neck gently.  _ Two. _ Lance looks at Keith’s eyes, and he gets the hint. They both start to lean closer.  _ One. _

 

They kiss, the timer goes off, and everything seems to fall into place.


End file.
